It was for our honor to meet Elaine, an ex-lecturer at Oranim and an elementary English teacher for 25 years in the Kibbutz of Ayelet Hashahar. She introduced to us the e-mail project held in her school for sixth graders 15 years ago. Then, computers were first coming to schools. Therefore, she was scared and nervous. She also showed a great deal of resistance. She resisted until she worked with a colleague who suggested using it for communication as a tool to write a letter to other students abroad. She discovered the computer as a real tool to teach elementary schools. She set up an email project for 6th graders: an e-mail correspondence in English between 6th graders in Israel and in the U.S.A. Now it is a basis of teaching 6th grade. The idea is interaction between the students and sharing their teaching experiences in a sufficient way. In her PowerPoint Presentation, she talked about the project's initial teaching goals, the criteria for choice of partner school, procedure, replies and responses, formats, activities and resources other than letters, topics, advantages and national curriculum . Initial teaching Goals; Authentic use of English- an opportunity that textbooks couldn't offer us real life communicative situations- to motivate the students to use the language Motivation- students came after school to get and send letters. We couldn't teach earlier because computers weren't available during class time. First students had one hour in the afternoon once a week but later on, this project take over the real lessons and it became a crucial part of our learning teaching process. When the letters came to school the teacher was as a postman to give the students their letters in her lesson therefore it took over the lessons. Development and reinforcement of writing skills- Reading and writing are mirror skills Exposure to and appreciation of other cultures- Criteria for choice of partner school- the school needed to look for a school to be a partner. First letters were sent to a school in Canada and we waited for months to get an answer, when we didn't get letters back, we started to look for another school, we had a series of trials and eras.
work in teams: homeroom teacher, English teacher, computer teacher
Access to required resources: being able to access the internet, avaliable computers
Correspondence on two levels: class level and personal level
matching expectations
coordination of program
Procedure
introducing the project
Teach use of word in English
Write introductory letters
receive a reply
respond to letters
Presentation of new topic
Writing a letter
introduce a topic on the level of the class (in Highlight book they have a chapter called pen-pal that is very helpful)
Brainstorm- through it the teacher lists all the vocabulary they need, then teachers write in their notebooks a glossary that also includes chunks
Development of topic
Paragraphs
Glossary
Expansion of letter- personalize for those who want it
first draft- go over it in class
Typing
Editing (fluency & accuracy)
Replies and Responses:
skimming for gist of paragraphs
summarizing paragraphs in L1
scanning for specific information
group or pair work- helping each other because it is impossible for the teacher to go around and work with each student so weak students also survived this project
presentation of information
- individually - as a group - in a different format Other formats, activities and resources:
greeting cards
Photos
Poster displays- special events in schools
Power point presentations
Video film (writing a script)- the idea is that students work in groups to write a scrip then act it out and send the movie to their pen-pals.
Post cards- for any place in Israel I have visited, why I chose it.
Recipes- teaching imperatives and giving instructions:
meaningful recipes for your family, exchange recipes with the states, then we prepared a booklet of favorite recipes from America and Israel.
exchange of gifts
Topics:
Myself, my home, family and pets
Hobbies, interests, favorite things
Our area, my favorite place
Festivals and special days/ events
School activities and events
Sports
Daily and weekly schedules and routine
Life style, community and environment
favorite foods and exchange of recipes
personal information
Responses to letters, cards and gifts that were received
Advantages:
Heterogeneity- everybody is involved
Authentic and communicative
Peer teaching, collaboration- teacher as a facilitator- enabler
individual and joint responsibility
Familiarity with technology in English
Exposure to different text types
Multiculturalism
Discovery and self discovery
Motivation
effect on younger grades
content and form
National Curriculum: Domains *Social interaction *Access to information *Presentation *Appreciation of literature and culture ýMulticulturalism: be aware of the differences as well as the similarities between different cultures. ýS.S. learnt the practical aesthetics and techniques of PowerPoint Presentation. Scaffolding- transforming the introductory paragraph into P.P.P slides to make it brief.
Initial teaching Goals;
Authentic use of English- an opportunity that textbooks couldn't offer us
real life communicative situations- to motivate the students to use the language
Motivation- students came after school to get and send letters. We couldn't teach earlier because computers weren't available during class time. First students had one hour in the afternoon once a week but later on, this project take over the real lessons and it became a crucial part of our learning teaching process.
When the letters came to school the teacher was as a postman to give the students their letters in her lesson therefore it took over the lessons.
Development and reinforcement of writing skills-
Reading and writing are mirror skills
Exposure to and appreciation of other cultures-
Criteria for choice of partner school-
the school needed to look for a school to be a partner. First letters were sent to a school in Canada and we waited for months to get an answer, when we didn't get letters back, we started to look for another school, we had a series of trials and eras.
Procedure
Writing a letter
Replies and Responses:
- skimming for gist of paragraphs
- summarizing paragraphs in L1
- scanning for specific information
- group or pair work- helping each other because it is impossible for the teacher to go around and work with each student so weak students also survived this project
- presentation of information
- individually- as a group
- in a different format
Other formats, activities and resources:
- greeting cards
- Photos
- Poster displays- special events in schools
- Power point presentations
- Video film (writing a script)- the idea is that students work in groups to write a scrip then act it out and send the movie to their pen-pals.
- Post cards- for any place in Israel I have visited, why I chose it.
- Recipes- teaching imperatives and giving instructions:
meaningful recipes for your family, exchange recipes with the states, then we prepared a booklet of favorite recipes from America and Israel.Topics:
Advantages:
National Curriculum:
Domains
*Social interaction
*Access to information
*Presentation
*Appreciation of literature and culture
ýMulticulturalism: be aware of the differences as well as the similarities between different cultures.
ýS.S. learnt the practical aesthetics and techniques of PowerPoint Presentation.
Scaffolding- transforming the introductory paragraph into P.P.P slides to make it brief.